Teemu Pulkkinen (Credit: jokerit.com)
It looks like an early-season slump was just a blip on the radar for Teemu Pulkkinen.
After struggling out of the gates with just eight points in his first 26 contests, Pulkkinen has rediscovered his scoring touch with Helsinki Jokerit of the Finnish SM-Liiga since late November, scoring nine goals along with 11 assists for 20 points in his past 24 games. All told, he has 28 points in 50 contests.
“Pulkkinen put in a great summer in terms of off-ice practicing and showed up in his best shape (of his career) by far, and he just couldn’t score,” said Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson. “Everybody was a little frustrated by that, most of all, himself, but he’s starting to produce. He’s starting to hum along nicely.”
The 21-year-old also struggled late last season with Jokerit, with just two goals and five assists in his final 17 games.
Compared favorably to Jari Kurri and Brett Hull because of his lightning release and knack for getting into scoring position, conditioning has never been a strong suit for the 5-foot-11, 183-pounder. Beyond goals and assists, Pulkkinen’s commitment to getting in shape in the off-season is perhaps the most important step in his development.
“We all know what he can do with the puck and we were all worried with his overall shape,” Andersson said. “But he put in a really good summer and everybody’s pleased with how he’s in shape.”
Pulkkinen, a fourth-round draft pick in 2010, is in the first year of a three-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings. Andersson said it’s too early to say whether Red Wings management will bring Pulkkinen to North America next season.
“If he takes off, makes the national team (for the IIHF world championship), all kinds of things can to happen,” he said. “We’ll just wait and see and take it from there.”
NOTES: Goaltender Petr Mrazek posted a 26-save win over St. Louis in his NHL debut while forwards Tomas Tatar and Joakim Andersson are getting ice time with Red Wings in a recent call-up, with Tatar getting 12 minutes per game in four contests and Andersson nine minutes a night in two outings … Center Alan Quine (Belleville, OHL) is running wild since a January trade and has 23 points in 12 games since joining the Bulls. Belleville is 31-14-3-3, third in the OHL … Defenseman Ryan Sproul (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) is shooting the lights out with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in his past 10 games and has taken over the OHL lead in defense scoring despite missing 17 games with a broken arm. In total, he has 52 points in just 37 games … Right-winger Martin Frk (Halifax, QMJHL) had a slow start but you can’t argue with his production from November on. In his past 28 games, he has 21 goals and 28 assists for 49 points and is getting plenty of time riding shotgun with 2013 draft stars Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.
Following is this week’s statistical report.
SKATERS: REGULAR-SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEVEL | LEAGUE | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferraro, Landon | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 47 | 15 | 17 | 33 | 31 | -1 | 100 |
| Andersson, Joakim | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 36 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 55 | +1 | 84 |
| Parkes, Trevor | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 30 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 33 | +6 | 30 |
| Lashoff, Brian | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 36 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 23 | +4 | 38 |
| Tatar, Tomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 44 | 19 | 20 | 39 | 44 | +13 | 147 |
| Almqvist, Adam | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 44 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 24 | +3 | 59 |
| Nicastro, Max | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | +3 | 7 |
| Raedeke, Brent | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 28 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 36 | -1 | 51 |
| Sheahan, Riley | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 45 | 13 | 12 | 26 | 25 | +13 | 73 |
| Aubry, Louis-Marc | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 38 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 35 | -1 | 51 |
| Callahan, Mitchell | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 42 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 82 | +2 | 64 |
| Jurco, Tomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 45 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 14 | -4 | 56 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Grand Rapids | AHL | PRO | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 0 | 12 |
| Coetzee, Willie | Toledo | ECHL | PRO | 43 | 18 | 19 | 37 | 10 | +1 | 184 |
| Nestrasil, Andrej | Toledo | ECHL | PRO | 39 | 11 | 30 | 41 | 26 | +17 | 112 |
| Fournier, Gleason | Toledo | ECHL | PRO | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +5 | 11 |
| Jensen, Nick | St. Cloud State | WCHA | NCAA | 30 | 3 | 20 | 23 | 12 | +9 | 45 |
| Marshall, Ben | Minnesota | WCHA | NCAA | 28 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 14 | +10 | 46 |
| McKee, Mike | Lincoln | USHL/JR-A | USHL | 30 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 232 | +9 | 45 |
| De Haas, James | Penticton | USHL/JR-A | BCHL | 44 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 19 | – | – |
| Frk, Martin | Halifax | CHL | QMJHL | 40 | 23 | 36 | 59 | 66 | +19 | 123 |
| Ouellet, Xavier | Blainville-Boisbriand | CHL | QMJHL | 37 | 7 | 26 | 33 | 36 | +15 | 127 |
| Hudon, Philippe | Victoriaville | CHL | QMJHL | 51 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 46 | +4 | 108 |
| Sproul, Ryan | Sault Ste. Marie | CHL | OHL | 37 | 18 | 34 | 52 | 33 | +3 | – |
| Athanasiou, Andreas | Barrie | CHL | OHL | 51 | 22 | 32 | 54 | 26 | +12 | – |
| Quine, Alan | Belleville | CHL | OHL | 38 | 14 | 35 | 49 | 18 | -1 | – |
| Tvrdon, Marek | Vancouver | CHL | WHL | 18 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 16 | +2 | – |
| Nedomlel, Richard | Swift Current | CHL | WHL | 57 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 87 | -14 | – |
| Jarnkrok, Calle | Brynas | EUR | SEL | 47 | 11 | 24 | 35 | 12 | -5 | 123 |
| Backman, Mattias | Linkoping | EUR | SEL | 45 | 1 | 20 | 21 | 30 | +8 | 55 |
| Pulkkinen, Teemu | Jokerit | EUR | FIN | 50 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 41 | +2 | 223 |
| Marchenko, Alexei | CSKA Moscow | EUR | KHL | 42 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 45 |
| Bodin, Rasmus | HV-71 | EUR-JR | SWE-J20 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | -1 | 11 |
GOALIES: REGULAR SEASON REPORT
| NAME | TEAM | LEAGUE | GP | W | L | O/S | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paterson, Jake | Saginaw | OHL | 38 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2.48 | .909 |
| McCollum, Thomas | Grand Rapids | AHL | 20 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 2.80 | .898 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Grand Rapids | AHL | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.32 | .847 |
| Mrazek, Petr | Grand Rapids | AHL | 25 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2.26 | .916 |
| Mrazek, Petr | Toledo | ECHL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.02 | .944 |
| Pearce, Jordan | Toledo | ECHL | 21 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2.48 | .909 |
Good to hear/read Hakan Andersson is happy with Teemu Pulkkinen’s conditioning. That’ll do him far more good with respect to entering the AHL and/or NHL than simply scoring bunches of goals before burning out in Finland.
Really hoping somebody provides excellent/better coverage of the World Championships in May.
Ryan
Have you ever looked at the iihf website? Not Wings centric by any means, but they usually have a ton of info on their websites. And they make a site specifically for each tournament. But I would love to see a write up of all Wings prospects involved after.
teldar
Yeah I’m familiar with the IIHF site and they along with TSN do a fine job covering the WCs. But what I meant and should have said is that I’m hoping for better television coverage of the games. NHLN seems the only network to carry any of them, but mostly only the USA and Canada matches. Last couple years I’ve been stuck having to watch foreign feeds of the games online for non-NA games.
Where’s Gustav? He’s not on your Skaters Report.
Gustav have ‘graduated’ to the big club according to RWC. If Pulkkinen comes over to NA next season does he need to clear waivers to go to GR? I know this season he either had to make the Wings roster or go back to Europe. If he is eligible for GR next year then there is no reason for him to stay in Finland. Come over and get used to the NA game and smaller ice. If Pulkinen, Backman, and Jarnkrok plus all our top prospect from major jr all play in GR next year they will have a scary team.
Levi, Pulkkinen wont have to clear waivers until the 2015-2016 season, i believe.
It is beyond my comprehension why a young, talented buck who dreams of playing in the NHL cannot maintain, or get into, game shape. What else has Pulkkinen to do all summer but train?
Really can’t understand why Holland called up Andersson over Nyquist. I think Gus and Tatar together on line 3 with Abs would be a good line. Andersson is strictly a 4th line guy imo.
Ryan Sproul is deadly! Good to see that. :-)
Sammy, I agree but I think the Anderson call up was due to needing some size playing Edmonton and espically LA. I like what he has done up so far with Tatar. I think Eaves gets played tonight and they call up Gus for the next game if Franzen is still out which sounds like he will.
I dont follow other teams prospects but I do like our pool. Look how good Lashoff,Smith, Tatar, Mrazek and Anderson have done so far. Shows as much as we all scream and wanted these guys up last that the Brass knows what they are doing.
Fully agree with you SBURR, the brass does know what they are doing as frustrating it may be sometime for us fans this isn’t there first time. Detroit is well set up to continue the playoff streak well into the future. There isn’t to many teams in the NHL that have the pipeline Detroit has and considering the lack of 1st rounders we have that is nothing short of incredible. This team should have a alot of young talent donning the winged wheel within the next 5 years. As long as KH doesn’t get to trigger happy on signing old reclammation projects (Sammuelson) this team is in great shape for many years. We have 4 legit D prospects, atleast 5 solid forwards and a stellar goalie prospect. See how many team can say that. Like I said, this franchise is in good shape.
Was just checking some AHL goalie stats and came across Jacob Markstrom. Still pissed that we took McCollum one pick before Markstrom and apparently it was the first time the brass went against Hakan Anderson’s recommendation, probably shouldn’t do that again.
As per TSN’s latest player rankings (for what it’s worth), here are the Wings prospects: minimum of 40 games played so Ouellet and Sprould both not qualified..
Frk rated 9th best player in the Q.; Jensen rated #85 in the NCAA; Athanasiou rated 27th in OHL; Tarter 3rd and Nyquist 4th in AHL.
You know, I was really worried about Pulkkinen earlier in the season, but then I took a closer look at his stats. He had a slow period there, but 90% of it was assists. He has been scoring at his normal pace most of this year. I don’t think that assists for a guy like that is really indicative of anything. With him and Tatar, we should have some complementary shooters for a while.
YVR, thanks for those rankings. I have to think Sproul, if not Ouellette as well, is a top ten guy. I can’t believe the season Sproul is having… I can’t wait to see him in GR.
Good to see Teemu get over the early season slump, but knowing the Red Wings development m.o, they’re definitely going to want to see him add a stronger defensive element to his game before any taste of the NHL. I understand being optimistic about the guys’ upside, but I don’t know what the people who want to see him in the show in two years are basing that off of.
Hard to believe that Ryan Sproul didn’t make the WJC Team Canada roster. I can’t help but think if they selected him and had Paterson play some games for Canada the outcome would’ve been different, but oh well, I like them sleeper picks. ;)
Perks,
Yeah, I’m sure we weren’t alone in thinking that Paterson should have played and would likely have played better. No doubt in my mind anymore that Sproul is a stud and in my mind, is pushing the list for #1 top potential in our system.
No doubt Sproul is one of the top prospects in the system. I don’t think RWC would be willing to give that top spot to him, only for the reason that guys like Tatar, Jarnkrok and so forth are competing in pro leagues. If Sproul takes that production into the AHL, no doubt he will shoot right up the list.
No, certainly not #1 in RWC list, but but he’s pushing for #1 potential in the Wings’ system in my opinion. The RWC list is a mix of potential, likelihood, and readiness.
Just curious, how’s Jensen’s progress been this year? His team is a solid contender and he’s having a decent year, so I’m wondering where you see him landing? Seems like guys like Sproul, Ouellet and Almquist have all skipped Jensen in the prospect rankings, even though he’s been steadily improving since being drafted.
Mike – my take on Jensen is that he is a decent-to-good prospect. It’s two years in a row that one of those US College publications lists him as a top 10 defenseman. I haven’t seen much of him in terms of watching a full game on TV, but I have read quite a bit about him and what you read a lot is “responsible” “see ice well” and “good puck mover.” He doesn’t appear to have a physical side, say like Ouellet.
I am not sure if this is the year that the Wings have to sign him and he goes to GR, but with his skating, smarts and being a RH shot (big org need)- there is always a chance he could turn out to be like a bigger Tobias Enstrom – a solid, smart puck mover.
I noticed on Hockeys Future website a lot of the prospects have gone up in ranking. some depth in the next couple of years which is good to see!
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/detroit_red_wings/
On another note I would think based on Babcocks quotes this past week Filpula will be gone in the summer. So the more Tatar and Nyquist play this year the better. Really like what I am seeing of Tatar so far, speed hands, back checking and a nose for the net.
What did Babs say about Filpula that makes you believe he wont be back next year? That would be a huge loss for the wings. Filpula is very underrated in my opinion